opinion

The resignation of five pro-democracy lawmakers in January in protest at the lack of a timetable for democratic reform, and the May 16 by-election to replace them, have unexpectedly breathed new life into Hong Kong's stagnant political scene.

Hong Kong has grown so dramatically as a financial centre over the past 10 years that it seems odd for it to be worrying about its future. Especially so, one would have thought, after its triumph last year when it beat both New York and London to host the largest volume of initial public offerings in the world.

There is an obvious division within Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement on the Legco by-elections and "referendum" issue. This division offers a significant opportunity for Beijing's united front strategy to split the pro-democracy movement and achieve its goal of divide and rule, hence the emergence of the labels of "moderate" democrats and "radical" democrats.

The Hong Kong government announced earlier this month that it had nominated a leading jurist, Justice Geoffrey Ma, to be the next head of the judiciary, succeeding Chief Justice Andrew Li, who served in that post since the former British colony became a special administrative region of China in 1997.

Washington - The gold medallion given to recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize doesn't come with a ribbon, but the award could still end up being a weight around President Obama's neck.

The Berlusconi scandal reveals that far from being the land that feminism forgot, Italy is still a matriarchal society - Anyone who has been following the continuing saga of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, with its tales of Sicilian yachts, Roman villas, call girls and construction contracts, might well conclude that Italy is the land that feminism forgot.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama is reveling in presidential power and influence unseen in Washington for decades. Barely 100 days in office, the U.S. president and his Democratic Party have firm control over the White House and Congress and the ability to push through ambitious plans.

If Gordon Brown expected props back home for being the first European leader to enjoy President Obama's hospitality at the White House and only the fifth British Prime Minister ever to address Congress, he might have reconsidered the fourth paragraph of that speech. Like a nervous entertainer at a particularly rowdy children's party, Brown pulled his rabbit out of the hat almost at the start of his act. Her Majesty — Britain's Queen — had bestowed an honorary knighthood on "Sir Edward Kennedy," he announced.

BRUSSELS -- According to Finkelstein, Israel, a state built on the ashes of the Holocaust, is now committing a holocaust against Palestinians in Gaza. In a telephone interview with Today’s Zaman, Finkelstein said Israel was a “terrorist state” created by the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948. Praising Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish people for their courage in supporting Palestinians, Finkelstein referred to Israel as a “satanic” and “lunatic” state. Finkelstein’s parents survived the Nazi camps in World War II and then immigrated to the U.S.

Dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban commander were in a compound when a suspected U.S. missile struck Saturday, killing 27 insurgents in an al-Qaeda stronghold near the Afghan border, officials said.